Marion County sheriff's major suspended

MARION COUNTY, Fla. - A traffic stop lead to the suspension of a major at the Marion County Sheriff's Office after investigators say he made a call that may have caused a driver to go free, even though the driver was suspected of drunk driving.

Maj. Tommy Bibb was suspended for two days without pay and had to apologize to the deputies for violating the department's code of conduct.

The dashcam video taken from the January traffic stop shows Deputy Calvin Batts making a traffic stop on a county road, west of Highway 441.

Batts tells the driver, 26-year-old Matthew Tillander, that he stopped him after he was caught speeding. Then he asks if Tillander had been drinking.

"You've been drinking a little bit tonight? I can smell it coming off of you," said Batts.

Tillander tells the deputy he wasn't drinking. Not convinced, Batts tells Tillander to get out of the car and asks him to do a series of field sobriety exercises.

During the tests, Tillander gets a phone call he says is from Sheriff Chris Blair. The deputy tells Tillander to hang up the phone, but then eventually grabs the phone.

Several minutes go by and then the deputy's phone rings and he's asked to call Bibb.

According to an internal affairs report, Bibb asked the deputy "Who you got" and "What was he pulled over for?" The major then told the deputy to hold off until he can speak to the sheriff.

Nearly 10 minutes go by and Tillander and Batts shake hands and Tillander is free to go.

Local 6 reached out to Tillander, a businessman in the area, but he did not want to comment on his son's situation.

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